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Ambrosiaster": a Fresh Suggestion

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Ambrosiaster 224 THE IDENTITY OF THE "AMBROSIASTER": A FRESH SUGGESTION. THE name " Ambrosiaster " was invented by Erasmus to indicate the author of a Latin commentary on the thirteen Epistles of St. Paul, which has come down to us for the most part under the name of St. Ambrose. His rejection of Ambrosian authorship has been almost universally upheld by succeeding scholars, and a large number of guesses as to the real identity of the mysterious author have been put forward during the past four centuries. The bases for most of these were slender enough, and no names need be mentioned save Hilary the Luciferian deacon, Tyconius the Donatist 1 and Faustinus.2 Each of these names was sup­ ported with some show of argument, but the problem was still unsolved when in 1899 the world-famous French Bene­ dictine, Dom Germain Morin, O.S.B., of the Abbey, Mared­ sous, Belgium, pointed out a number of indications which seemed to him to favour the idea that one Isaac, a converted Jew concerned in the disturbances at the election of Pope Damasus, might have written the work. This view was made known to the readers of the EXPOSITOR in a graceful article by the Reverend A. E. Burn, entitled " The Ambro­ siaster and Isaac the Converted Jew" (1899, vol. ii., 368- 375). This opinion may be said to hold the field, as it has commanded the adhesion of Professors Theodor von Zahn, Joseph Wittig, and others. But in 1903 Dom Morin gave up his first suggestion in favour of a second, that the author was a distinguished proconsul of the day, Decimius Hilarianus Hilarius. Under the title "A New View about 1 The view of the erudite patristio scholar, J. B. Morel, presbyter of Auxerre. 1 The view of Prof. Joseph Langen, the Bonn Old Catholic. THE IDENTITY OF THE "AMBRQ_SIASTER " 225 Ambrosiaster" attention was called to this change of view by the present writer in the EXPOSITOR (1903, vol. i., pp. 442-455). The suggestion has claimed hardly any adherents. Amidst this bewildering variety of opinion it might seem as if it were our duty. to rest content with the certain knowledge that tlie work belongs to the last thirty years of the fourth century and to Italy. But it happens that it contains so many interesting statements, and is of such special excellence, that a knowledge of the author would be a real help in the assignment of its place among the historical documents belonging to its period. Moreover, the problem is not that of one work merely. For two others are now regarded, almost without a dissentient voice, as from the same pen, one the Quaestione8 V eteriB et Novi Te8tamenti cxxvii., handed down to us under the name of Augustine,1 and a fragment of a commentary on St. Matthew, preserved in the same manuscript as contains the "Muratorian Canon," and edited by Mercati and Tur­ ner.2 The real importance of the three works is now grad­ ually coming to be recognised, since Harnack wrote of the author : " We ought to call him the great unknown ; for what Western expositor of the early period or the Middle Ages is his equal1 " "Both works [the Commentary and the Quaestiones] are admirable in their kind, and perhaps the most distinguished product of the Latin Church in the period between Cyprian and Jerome." Jiilicher is no less hearty in his admiration : " His exposition of the letters of Paul is not only important by reason of many 1 Critica.Ily edited by the present writer in the Vienna 0orpu8 ScripJorum EcclesiaBticorum Latinorum, vol. 50 {1908). 1 The present writer assigned it to Ambrosiaster, and is followed by Zahn, Morin, etc. The fragment is edited in the Journal of Theological Studies, vol. v. {1903-04), pp. 218-241, and my argument is published in the aame volume, pp. 608-621. VOL. VU. liS 226 THE IDENTITY OF THE " AMBROSIASTER " interesting notes on the history of dogma, morals and government, but is also the best written prior to the six­ teenth century." Such opinions constitute an ample reason for continuing to grapple with this difficult problem. Dom Morin amidst much research into other topics has found time to ponder further on it since 1903, and has published the result of his meditations in the Re'!J'Ue Benedictine for January, 1914, in an article entitled, " Qui est 1' Ambrosiaster 1 Solution Nouvelle." His two previous proposals were put forward merely as suggestions : the new view is presented as a certainty. It is right that it should be expounded in the pages of the ExPOSITOR, and some justification for the action of the present writer in doing so may be found in the fact that his own study of the Ambrosiaster engaged nearly ten years of his life. It must, however, be understood that I am not expressing either agreement or disagreement on my own part with the view of Dom Morin. Those who have taken the trouble to read what I have published on the subject will understand why. I am here as a reporter, anxious to extend to the wider world represented by the EXPOSITOR knowledge which might otherwise be confined to the readers of the Revue Benedictine, who are not nearly as numerous as they ought to be. The person fixed on by Dom Morin is Evagrius of Antioch, who died a little after 392 as bishop of the Eustathians in that city. It will be best to begin by stating what is known of this man's career, and then comparing what can be in­ ferred from the works of the Ambrosiaster as to his career. Then one can compare the language of the one work which bears Evagrius' name, the translation of St. Athanasius' Life of St. Anthony, with the works of Ambrosiaster. Evagrius was descended from Pompeianus, surnamed ~he Frank, who in A.D. 272 distinguished himself in Aurelian's THE IDENTITY OF THE "AMBROSIASTER '' 227 war against Zenobia. The family was very popular in Antioch, and some of its representatives lived as far away as Egypt. It was Pompeianus' grandson probably, also named Pompeianus, who was the father of Evagrius, and a great friend of the distinguished· rhetorician Libanius. We hear nothing of Evagrius between his birth at Antioch and his first appearance in public life in the year 363. In that year the prefect Sallustius procured him official employ­ ment, and in the following year he obtained a higher position. His administration was distinguished by its purity, and he made no attempt to enrich himself, though married and the father of two children. Yet he was prosecuted for an error committed during his period of office, and it required the intervention of his powerful friends, Libanius, Sallustius and Rufinus, to secure his acquittal. In spite of this the Emperor Valentinian inflicted on him an enormous fine, which would have reduced him to beggary, but for the renewed support of his powerful friends. It seems that this second higher position was in Italy, perhaps at Milan, where the imperial court was at the time. We know in any case that Evagrius came West with St Eusebius of Vercelli in 363 or 364 and did not return to the East till towards the autumn of 373. By this time he was already a priest. During this ten years' residence in Italy he supported the claims of Pope Damasus and exerted himself in opposition to the Arian bishop of Milan, Auxentius. Returning to the East towards the end of 373, he passed by Caesarea in Cappadocia, and had an interview with St. Basil on the subject of the schism in the Church of Antioch. Evagrius had promised Basil to support Meletius, but joined the party of Paulinus. It was about this period that Evagrius and Jerome were intimate. Evagrius submitted his com­ positions to Jerome, and Jerome found in him a sympathetic 228 THE IDENTITY OF THE " AMBROSIASTER " spirit. Besides sharing the tastes of Jerome, Evagrius had the acquirement, rare among the Oriental clergy, of a speaking and writing knowledge of Latin. His long period of residence in the West had made him almost a Latin, and it is highly probable that the priest Evagrius mentioned in the Acts of the Council of Aquileia of 381 is our Evagrius. This varied career ended by the election of Evagrius as bishop in succession to Paulinus of Antioch in 388 or 389. The bishops of the West, Ambrose among them, refrained from taking a side in the rivalry between him and Flavian, and made a vain attempt to put an end to this troublesome situation at the council of Capua in 391. The death of Evagrius a year or two after the beginning of his episcopate solved the difficulty. In the first and fifth chapters of my Study of Ambrosiaster 1 I endeavoured to come to some conclusions regarding the life and career of that author from the internal evidence of his writings. It is curious to see how well these correspond with the sketch just given of the life and experiences of Evagrius. " It seems clear that the writer was of high birth " (p. 177). "The references to Egypt are rather frequent" (p. 35). " The author had some connexion with or special interest in Egypt "(p. 36). A" large number of his illustra­ tions are derived from Government and Law" (p. 23). "The references to Law in general or to particular statutes are unusually frequent " (p. 27). " He draws many illustrations from the emperor, the highest state officials, and the sena­ torial order.
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